The invention relates to apparatus and methods for processing shrimp.
Originally introduced because of the high labor costs associated with peeling small shrimp by hand, shrimp-peeling machines are now widely used in the shrimp processing industry. Roller-type shrimp-peeling machines, in particular, dominate the bulk peeling industry. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,778,055 and 2,537,355, both to Fernand S., James M., and Emile M. Lapeyre, describe the basic structure and principles of operation of roller-type shrimp peelers.
Many factors affect the throughput, quality, and yield of peeled shrimp. Some factors related to the shrimp themselves include the species, size, uniformity, and freshness of the shrimp. Factors related to the peeling equipment, include the feed rate of shrimp to the peeler, water flow to the peeler, and finger-frame pressure. Other factors relate to other shrimp-processing equipment, such as cleaners, shrimp feed systems, roller separators, air separators, and graders. The equipment-related factors are generally manually adjustable to improve peeling quality and yield for a given batch of shrimp or to compensate for peeling-roller wear. Because the quality and yield of the peeled shrimp directly affect their production cost and the price they can command, proper adjustment of the peeling equipment is important. But proper manual adjustment requires diligent monitoring of the output quality and yield and experience in selecting the adjustments that should be made.